Lazy sunny days in London.

The sun is blazing here today and all of London has slowed right down.  It's wonderful to walk through a London park and see the world gently relaxing. Londoners have no resistance to heat, we wilt and lose all desire to be exert ourselves in any way.  All we can do is dress in silly summery clothes and act like kids again.

Today I spent the day in town with Ralph.  It felt like a day from our own pasts - a day of wandering aimlessly through London back streets and just enjoying being together in the sunshine. It started with us going out early and getting on a double decker bus to go to my garage to pick up my recently repaired car.  We got on the bus (for free with our old age free travel passes!) and immediately went to the top deck and bagged the very front seats.  Sitting in those seats with the huge expanse of glass round us watching London from a different perspective is just such a lot of fun and immediately made us both feel like excited little kids.

Going to see my mechanics is a bit like going to see family.  These guys have been repairing our cars for about 18 years and they've shared our histories and family events and we've done the same with them - births, deaths, marriages, job woes, even depression - we've shared them all.  Once a year they even clear out their garage, clean the place, set up a giant Greek-style barbecue and invite all their regular customers and families to party.  So, seeing them today, aside from costing me a small fortune, was a nice start to our day.

We walked to the local tube station and went into the centre of London (again using our free travel passes!) for Ralph to have his eyes checked and buy new glasses.  Again, we've known the optician for over 27 years and we talked about families and buying vintage glasses on eBay; the eye test was certainly a secondary part of our long conversation.  Ralph took over an hour choosing just the right glasses.  Usually I get completely impatient watching him put on every pair of glasses in the shop, from the most absurd Mr. Magoo styles to the cliched designer frames, until he finally chose frames remarkably similar to the ones he already wears. No surprises there then. And yet, today I felt we had all the time in the world.

We went to a new Japanese food shop, bought some great take away food and made our way to St. James Park to eat our lunch al fresco.  The park was really crowded though luck was with us and we found a rare empty bench and sat down and had a yummy lunch.  It was while I was walking through the park after lunch that I noticed how diverse the people in London are.  This is something I really appreciate about this city.  I'm sure that most of the amblers enjoying the newborn goslings in the lake and the swans and geese were not Londoners, indeed, they probably weren't even British, but somehow, the sunshine, the green, green flowering of spring and the general bonhomie in the air, made all of us feel content together.

Walking across Horseguards Parade Ground near Whitehall, I felt as if I was in some foreign European city and I was on holiday with Ralph, just enjoying the lack of urgency in the way our day unfolded. We almost met with a demonstration in Trafalgar Square, but this sounded really aggressive and we kept our distance.  Traveling home on the tube (again, for free!) was easy and even pleasant and we came home and had a lazy, late afternoon nap.

I had a really satisfying day.  I loved being with Ralph and today we laughed and hugged and remembered how much we love each other. This August it will be 42 years since we met.  This afternoon sitting in the park, I looked at him and I swear, he hadn't changed a bit.